WRITING

How I Write 20K+ Words Each Week Without Burnout

Practical advice to avoid writer’s burnout

I write more than 3K words a day on freelance writing gigs and on my personal writing passion projects. I often work 7 days a week — because I want to. One might think that after several years of this, I’d burn out. The question is…why haven’t I?

I suspect there is a very clear reason for this: I actively work to avoid burnout. Which sounds like a complete oxymoron, right? It’s not.

Recently, I wrote about the Burnout Equation:

[Creative or professional output > rest and restoration] X unsustainable period of time = BURNOUT

Today, I am sharing some of my curated tips with you to avoid burnout and maximize productivity.

We do this with one simple trick: Increasing the rest and restoration activities that work best to clear and calm our minds and physical overwhelm. Use the following tips (from my personal experience as a high-output writer) for a variety of applications — your job, your hobbies, your creative endeavors, and more!

Rest and Restoration Methods that Work for Me

Tipping the scales in your burnout equation is often as easy as ramping up your favorite means of rest and restoration. While these are a little different for everyone, you should focus on those activities that have the most positive impact on your stress levels.

Here are some common rest and restoration activities:

• Music
• Meditation
• Deep breathing
• Working out
• Dancing
• Yoga
• Spending time with loved ones
• Taking a day off
• Reading a book
• Getting in a spa day
• Lifting weights
• Taking a long drive through the countryside
• Heading out to a club for drinks with friends
• Volunteering
• Going to church

What Works for Me and Helps Me Write 20K+ Words Weekly

Perhaps you have tons of writing work, or high-concentration work like studying, that you need to do regularly, without fail, or else.

Then learning to avoid burnout is just as valuable a skill to you as the acts of writing or studying. I’ve been writing for over three years, professionally, and at fairly high outputs. So, I’ve learned my best rest and restoration methods.

Here’s how I avoid feeling overwhelmed by my work and get up each day excited to tackle my writing challenges, both professionally and creatively.

I Write What Excites Me

This is the most important part for me. You may not have full control over what you write if you are a freelancer, but you can take on the jobs that interest you. Writing droning articles, blogs, and emails on topics that bore you to tears is a one-track fast lane to burnout.

So, take the jobs that resonate with your spirit and your interests. It helps.

I Recognize the Signs Very Early

I usually wake up in the morning excited to turn on the computer and get to work. Occasionally, this doesn’t happen.

I may wake up feeling super tired or find myself delaying my work. Procrastination, then, I've learned, is a clear sign that my brain needs a break.

And when my brain needs a break, I give it one.

Whatever your signs are that burnout is on the horizon — do not ignore these. Take the time, even if it’s just a few hours or a day off, to nurture your own curiosities, rest your mind, and rejuvenate yourself so that the work comes naturally to you.

The signs of burnout may present a little differently from person to person, but here are some common signs, according to Forbes:

• High levels of stress or anxiety
• Lack of engagement
• Increased cynicism
• Distracted eating
• Not getting enough sleep (or poor sleep)
• Low energy and exhaustion
• Feeling like there’s enough time, feeling overwhelmed
• Excessive worrying
• High level of self-criticism
• Physical illness
• Numb feelings
• Inefficacy
• Making lots of mistakes
• No breaks or skipping vacation time
• Not enough exercise

I’d add one very important one here: you begin to let your self-care slide or do the opposite, become completely obsessed with self-care as if it’s never enough to make you feel better.

I Make Myself My Top Priority

Speaking of self-care…it takes a whole lot of self-care to fix burnout. It may even require a trip to see your doctor. It takes more work to fix burnout than if you prioritize your health and wellness prior to burnout.

Listen to your body. Listen to your mind. And most of all, set clear boundaries with yourself and others so that you can be your personal best.

You can write your best, and be far more prolific a writer if you are feeling (and functioning) your best.

Plus, a little CBD helps me…hey, whatever works!

I Take the Time to Read for Pleasure

This may seem silly, but I often schedule in some reading time. I find that allowing the mind to do the exploration of fiction, simply for pleasure, gives me a little more “gas in the tank” so to speak.

Reading sets my mind free to roam for a little bit. And this is very healthy for my writer’s brain and my inner curiosity. I try to read about 4 novels a month, which is an aggressive goal for my squirrely brain.

This means stepping away from the screen and picking up an actual paper book. I often read for 15–20 minutes of the most recent novel I’m into, or I read a self-help non-fiction book.

As an empty-nester, I am often guilty of spending days or weeks not talking to anyone else or leaving my apartment. So, I joined 2 very active book clubs in my area. This checks the boxes of getting in some fun reading plus a little social time.

Read. Read for fun. It helps.

I Use the Outdoors as a Mental Plug-in for Recharging

Some years ago I wrote about something called the environmental deficit, or psychoterratica.

You can read about it here: Are We Suffering from an Environmental Deficit? as published in The Ascent.

In this article, I literally begged people to get outdoors and teach their children to appreciate doing the same.

Teach your children how to walk in the woods. Follow a ladybug. Read this awesome poem about ducks: On Dappling Pond. Name a cloud. Write a poem about trees: Seed to Earth (Ok, so yes, I cannot separate my poetry from the point of getting your posterior OUTSIDE.)

Live in an urban area? Walk your dog — take a walk — take a drive to a rural area and get some wide open spaces! Find a way to get back to the soil in whatever small ways you can. It. Is. Healing.

Regularly, and especially when I feel my office closing in on me, the best strategy is to simply get my body outside. Because I do this — I feel my body and mind can both trust me to put their needs first; above the words, the jobs, and the deadlines. I practice grounding. I breathe in the fresh air. I stop to listen to the whisper of the wind through Long Leaf pines. I go to the beach and “walk along the edge of where the ocean meets the land” and the Counting Crows so eloquently put it.

And these things make all the difference.

I Focus on Productivity Rather Than Busy-ness

Tim Denning summed it up by explaining his writing boundaries. He sets those boundaries with his actions and with the people around him so that he can focus on just writing.

That’s why writing is scheduled on my calendar. The time to write is blocked out in advance and it’s not up for negotiation. If you try and cancel my writing time then I’ll probably be unhappy.

I have trained the people around me to know that Thursdays and Saturdays are off-limits. I won’t answer phone calls or respond to emails on these days. At the start, I had to repeat it a lot, but now people understand and I get to the end of a writing day with zero calls, zero SMSes, and zero emails. — How I Write a Stupid Amount of New Content, Effortlessly

Like Tim, I also schedule my writing time using Planyway, which is a scheduling add-on for Trello. I leave plenty of white space in case I need to move tasks around to those times when I am most focused and productive. In this way, my schedule is flexible and easier for me to manage. (More on this in a moment.)

I’ve learned that there’s a big difference between being busy and being productive. Simply staring at your screen and typing things isn’t the same thing as being in the “writing zone” where you’re focused and what you’re producing is valuable and useful.

If the brain wanders, or if you’re having trouble sitting in your seat to work…then get up. Walk around. Take a break. Do something completely un-writing-related until you can find your focus again.

I Make My Schedule Very Flexible

I mentioned Planyway. Here’s how I schedule tasks so that I can get more writing done in less time:

I schedule tasks in a flexible way in a divide-and-conquer method.

On any given day I am juggling 2–3 professional blogs in smaller time slots. (With my raging ADHD, I find these smaller blocks of time — a divide-and-conquer strategy — works best to keep me on task and keep me from getting cognitively bored or overwhelmed.)

I schedule three individual time slots for my professional blogs. One initial slot of usually 30 minutes to an hour for research and mapping out the blog, gathering the resources I’ll use, and reaching out to potential collaborators for professional input on the blog.

Then, a second time slot on the next day, a larger one, for the actual writing of the blog. Then, a third and smaller time slot for editing, proofreading, delivering to the client, and wrapping up loose ends like updating my records for the client. — When it’s Time to Fire Your Client

Now, Writing Those 20K Words!

Avoiding burnout is only half the equation if you want to write 20K+ words each week.

Here’s how I stay on top of my goals and avoid melting my brain while doing so.

1. Set the larger goal for the week, then break that down into smaller daily increments.
2. Keep track of your word counts. There are a gazillion ways to do this. Each editorial tool you use likely has a word count feature. Word counter is the one I use for professional tallies for my clients. And record your daily word counts somewhere super easy — on sticky notes or in a Google Sheets document. Make it simple so you’ll keep up with it.
3. Reward yourself when you reach your daily and weekly goals. Get silly if you want — we all love stickers, right? I write colorful checkmarks on my whiteboard (This makes me happy!) and then reward myself with some well-earned crafting time in front of my latest binge show. Or, you can make it something more tangible like a favorite latte or a visit to that park you love. We are rewards-based creatures. Getting these rewards makes us look forward to completing those word counts each day!

Thank you for taking the time to read this article today. Take a moment to share it with others who may benefit from this helpful resource.

Meet your author: Christina M. Ward is a lifelong beauty and wellness enthusiast with a professional writing career in the wellness, health, and clean beauty industries. Her work has been featured in Today’s Health Science, LA Weekly, Village Voice, and OK! Magazine.

Christina’s published poetry books: Amazon. Christina’s newsletter: Fiddleheads & Floss Newsletter.